Thursday, August 15, 2013

Today is Judy's first day of school. We walked the 15 minutes to school, and she was excited the entire way. She's been waiting for her first day since she turned 5 in December. She even asked for an alarm clock and watch so she wouldn't be late to class.

I remember holding her when she was a baby, and praying that she gets the opportunity to grow up and do whatever makes her happy. Today, we took a momentous step in that direction. She picked out her own clothes, her hairstyle, her lunch box, her backpack and design. She is already making decisions about how to represent herself as a person, and I love it.

Here's her school supply haul that we gathered a few weeks ago.

She was so excited to see all of the stuff she would get to use, and she was understanding that some of her supplies would go into a shared pile with her classmates.

Here's her backpack that we personalized with patches she picked out herself.

She was so excited about the sparkles and rainbows, and when I told her that no one else would have a backpack like hers, she was very proud.

And here she is getting ready for our walk to school this morning.

She was ready to get the show on the road! Also, that dress has little deer all over it, and I wish it came in my size.

As we walked to school, Judy was so excited, and kept checking her little watch (thanks Missy!), to make sure we were on time. As we closed in on her school, she shouted, "There's my school! We're almost there!" She was so excited, and not even a little nervous. We arrived at the school, and began walking around to her classroom, but another parent intercepted us and told us we had to walk through the building. We hadn't done that on meet the teacher night, so Judy looked up and me and said, "I don't know where my classroom is." I reassured her that we would find it. We walked up to her classroom and found her name on the bulletin board (names on bananas!). She was very excited to see that. We went into the room and found her name on a table. We took her lunch box out of her backpack, and I showed her where her snacks were. She smiled and nodded, and continued looking around. Then it was time to leave. Another mother was already sobbing, making ugly face and all. I looked away, for respect, but mostly to keep myself from crying too. "Bye Judy, have a great day! I love you." I kissed her on the head, and gave her a high five. "Bye mommy!"

And I left her in her classroom for the first time. I'm so excited for her!